KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian drone strike sparked a fire at an oil depot in Russia’s southern Volgograd region, officials said Saturday, after Russia launched a powerful hypersonic missile along with drones and other weapons that disrupted Kyiv’s power supply and heating.
There were no immediate reports of casualties, Volgograd Gov. Andrei Bocharov was quoted as saying in a Telegram post published on the channel of the local administration. The post did not specify the damage, but said that people living near the depot may have to be evacuated.
Ukraine’s General Staff said Saturday it had struck the Zhutovskaya oil depot overnight. In a statement on Telegram, it said the depot is supplying fuel to Russian forces, adding that damage was being assessed.
Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian energy sites aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue its full-scale invasion. Russia wants to cripple the Ukrainian power grid, seeking to deny civilians access to heat, light and running water in what Kyiv officials say is an attempt to “weaponize winter.”
Saturday’s attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, according to Ukrainian officials, killing at least four people in the capital. For only the second time in the nearly 4-year-old war, it used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv’s NATO allies.
The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further Moscow aggression if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.
Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, said Friday’s attacks “have resulted in significant civilian casualties and deprived millions of Ukrainians of essential services, including electricity, heating and water at a time of acute humanitarian need.”
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said heat supply would be fully restored in Kyiv by the end of Saturday.
She said areas on the right bank of the Dnieper River would gradually lift emergency blackouts and return to scheduled outages. But resuming power supply on the left bank, where Russian attacks were concentrated, is more complicated due to significant damage to the power grid, she added.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Saturday that its forces used aviation, drones, missiles and artillery to strike Ukrainian energy facilities and fuel-storage depots.
Russia struck Ukraine with 121 drones and one Iskander-M ballistic missile, according to the Ukrainian air force. It said 94 drones were shot down.
Separately, the Russian Defense Ministry said 59 Ukrainian drones were neutralized overnight over Russia and occupied Crimea.
Ukraine’s military said that besides the oil depot in Volgograd, it had struck a drone storage facility belonging to a unit of Russia’s 19th Motor Rifle Division in Zaporizhzhia, southern Ukraine, as well as a drone command and control point near the eastern city of Pokrovsk.
___
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
